Expensive Cooking Oil, Rare Diesel, 3 Kg LPG Prices Will Increase, Who Would Have Thought Observer Saying This: The Government Is Stingy, Sri Mulyani Says Indonesia Has Too Much Money

Illustration of a traditional market in the midst of the cooking oil crisis, the scarcity of BMM diesel, and the potential for an increase in 3k LPG. (Antaranews)

JAKARTA - Political observer Rocky Gerung assesses the cooking oil crisis, the scarcity of diesel fuel oil (BMM), and the potential for an increase in 3 kg LPG in the near future as a result of the government's stingy policy on money ownership in the country.

According to Rocky, currently people are burdened with meeting basic living needs due to soaring prices. However, on the one hand, the government has received extraordinary income, both tax and non-tax, from rising commodity prices.

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani said that the state's income from the increase in commodity prices was conveyed by the Minister of Finance. Minister of Finance said that the increase in commodity prices is indeed beneficial for state revenues so as to maintain the health of the state revenue and expenditure budget (APBN)

"This is because the government is stingy, it doesn't want to distribute our crops to the public. If it is said that there is no money, the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani herself said that we (Indonesia) have excess money, because commodity prices are rising," he said.

Rocky emphasized that the extraordinary income of the state treasury came from oil and gas commodities. The increase in global commodity prices will automatically raise government revenues. Because international demand is Indonesia's mainstay commodity.

"Similarly with regard to oil, it seems as if we import fuel crisis, indeed, we also export a lot. There are many wells that have the potential to produce but are exported," said Rocky.

"Don't forget that Pertamina has an upstream company that is sub-holding, which by law is still profitable. Oil prices rise Pertamina also gets money from upstream production which is exported as crude oil," he continued.

Rocky considers the increase in the prices of people's daily consumption goods amid the government's income from rising commodity prices is a form of lie. According to him, the government should be able to suppress the rate of increase in people's basic needs because it gets extraordinary income from rising global commodity prices.

"So actually the government is lying, we know that he has money but he doesn't want to give it to the people. So that the people don't rebel, they are given a meager Direct Cash Assistance (BLT)," he said.

Previously, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani said Indonesia would benefit from rising commodity prices. The Minister of Finance made this statement during a virtual press conference after meeting President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Tuesday, April 5.

"The extraordinary increase in commodity prices has had an impact. On the one hand, APBN revenues will increase, such as from oil, gas, coal, nickel, CPO. All of these provide added power in terms of state revenues," said the Minister of Finance.